Maintainer_s Diary - We Have a Scaling Problem
summary
Kernel contributions grow fast while reviewer capacity lags, creating a scaling problem: about 200 new authors versus only 200 committers, and the gap widens. Some subsystems accept ~85% within 28 days (network), while MTD accepts ~50% in 28 days and ~82% per cycle, exposing long latencies. Practical fixes include using Patchwork, reviewed-by/tested-by tags, keyboard shortcuts, automated tests and agreed workflows; Patchwork tracking proves effective at preventing lost patches.
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chapters (12)
- 0:00Intro
- 1:05Statistics: # of patches
- 5:42Can we offload tasks?
- 7:39First thing to notice
- 8:42Statistics: # of people with supporters
- 10:31A typical (simple) SoC
- 13:21Statistics: Subsystem Latency
- 24:12Additional info
- 25:39What you can do: Users
- 27:51What you can do: Developers
- 32:04What you can do: Maintainers
- 40:16What you can do: Organizations
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